//------------------------------// // Discovery // Story: Mad and Markless // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// While the rest of the girls tried to give Starlight a good talking to regarding how they should go about teaching her the ways of friendship, Spike had decided that maybe it was a good idea to get out of Starlight’s hair for a while. She really wasn’t in the best of moods this morning after he woke her up and he didn’t want another incident like this morning happening. Though he would’ve liked an apology along the lines of ‘Sorry I overreacted and tried to smother you with a pillow Spike.’ He wasn’t really expecting it because he knew just how difficult it is to work with Starlight, but it didn’t make him feel much better about it. So with the time that he now had to himself, he thought he’d partake in a bit of much-needed rest and relaxation. He’d gotten a few donuts from Sugarcube Corner and was now heading out to Ponyville’s nearby lake to relax under one of the surrounding trees. He’d come to enjoy a lot of the quiet that came with that part of town, and after a few times of doing this when he had nothing else to do, it’d become a regular activity to him. “Phew. Well today’s off to a rough start already, but nothing a couple of donuts can’t help fix.” Spike said with a growing smile as he sat under the tree and put a donut in his mouth. The taste of the smooth icing reminded him a lot of the donuts back in Canterlot and he loved every second of it. As he sat there longer though, he couldn’t help but feel something was…off. Like he wasn’t alone at the lake. He couldn’t quite put his claw on it, but he felt some other presence there with him. He probably would have shrugged it off completely if he didn’t hear the breathing coming from the other side of the tree. He turned around to look at the other side of the trunk. Sure enough, there was somepony else there with him. Though when Spike got a good look at him, he wished he hadn’t. The pony was undoubtedly a Pegasus stallion, and he looked absolutely horrible. The color on his fur coat had no sheen or brightness to it at all, and he looked so malnourished that Spike swore he could see his ribs. He cautiously moved a little closer and noticed the stallion was passed out; whether it was from hunger or exhaustion he couldn’t tell. “H-Hey, buddy wake up!” Spike raised his voice a little and gently shook him. The stallion let out a slightly pained groan. At least he could tell this pony was alive. “C-Come on say something!” “M-Mmph…” The stallion groaned again. “If I say something will you stop shaking me?” He growled in slight annoyance at the dragon’s nonstop and frantic shaking. Spike let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good. I thought you might’ve been dead for a minute there. Are you alright mister…uh…” “Laughingstock.” He grumbled, sitting up and resting his back against the tree and taking a couple of deep breaths. “And define ‘alright’” “Well I mean, no offense but you look pretty roughed up. When’s the last time you even ate?” Spike asked. Laughingstock didn’t actually answer in words, but just shrugged his shoulders. Spike’s jaw dropped in shock. “How do you not remember when you eat?!” “Been too long I guess. Couple days. Maybe more. I don’t know, I was in a desert for probably a week, pal. I wasn’t exactly signing on to eat tumbleweeds or cactus.” “I actually think the plural of cactus is ‘cacti’ Laughingstock.” Spike added, making Laughingstock deadpan, looking completely unamused. “Do I really look like I care? Do I?” Laughingstock growled in frustration. Who was this kid trying to impress with his proper grammar here? Spike flinched a little. While he’d come across his fair share of somewhat rude ponies in his lifetime, this guy was something else entirely. He didn’t know what it was like to be homeless and hungry like Laughingstock supposedly was, but he’d imagine that it’d stressed him out pretty badly to the point of him behaving like this. “Jeez…well um…you’re pretty hungry so do you maybe want a donut?” Spike asked, holding out the box of donuts to him. Laughingstock’s hardened face softened ever so slightly at the offer of food from the small dragon. It wasn’t by much, but it definitely didn’t look as irritable as it did a moment ago. “I’m not a charity case kid.” Immediately following that statement though, Laughingstock’s stomach growled loudly. “…Then again, starving to death isn’t on my to do list today.” He said, swallowing his pride along with one of the donuts. Laughingstock’s face softened even more after that as a pleased hum could be heard coming out of him. “Feel a little better now?” Spike asked, patting Laughingstock’s back a little. Laughingstock cleared his throat once he’d finished the donut and exhaled deeply. “You seriously have no idea.” He said in between breaths. “I don’t think I’d even be able to stand up if I didn’t eat soon.” Spike tried to smile a little. “Well heh, good thing I was here then. Name’s Spike by the way. Nice to meet ya.” “You too.” Laughingstock said, shaking Spike’s claw, clearly in gratitude from his generosity. “Hey listen, sorry if I came across as kind of…well, a dick. I don’t know if you can tell but I’m not in a really good spot so haven’t been in the best of moods lately.” Spike frowned a little. “Hey, don’t worry about it...but not ever in a good mood? I can totally get it because of how bad you’re in the hole right now but…never?” Spike asked. He could understand any frustration Laughingstock might be having with being in the position he’s in now, but to say that he’s never in a good mood had to be exaggeration. Right? Even in the worst of times there’s usually SOMETHING to be enthusiastic about. He shook his head and looked down at the ground. “Believe me, I know how that sounds and you don’t have a clue how badly I wanna say ‘yeah, I look at the bright side of things sometimes, I can overcome any depression, blah blah blah’. Might work for some ponies, but when you’re in the position I’m in, you’d be lying to yourself if you said that.” Spike’s frowned deepened a little. “Wow um, you’re pretty pessimistic aren’t you?” “My ass is pessimistic.” Laughingstock grumbled. He shook his head a little to shake off any bad thoughts he might’ve been having. He didn’t want to come across as a complete asshole to the guy that was nice enough to give him food. Though he did feel he just might have some reason to be worried seeing as he was talking to a dragon here. He’d come across some dragons before in his aimless travels; by no means were they nice. At least this one seemed a little different. “Uh-huuuh.” Spike nodded confusedly with a raised eyebrow. It sounded like Laughingstock was TRYING to make a point there, but saying that his ass is pessimistic didn’t make any sense. “Well, if you’re so bad off work-wise, maybe you should just focus on your special talent. My friends have run into a lot of ponies lately that seem to not want to do that.” Laughingstock rolled his eyes with a bitter scowl. “Now why didn’t I think of that? Oh wait that’s right. I did. And that’s the very problem. I can’t.” Spike’s confusion over the red pony before him’s attitude only grew. He can’t? What is that supposed to mean? “Why’s that?” “Because of this shit.” He growled quickly lifting up his wing away from his flank which was previously being covered by it. With it out of the way, Laughingstock’s equal symbol cutie mark was now on full display for Spike’s widening eyes. “This is why I can’t do anything right. This is why I can’t keep a job. My cutie mark was taken from me and now I’m stuck with this fucking piece of shit on my flank.” Spike’s jaw dropped at the sight of the mark Laughingstock possessed. It was just like the one Twilight described to him when they returned from Starlight’s old village. From the sounds of it, it had the same qualities that the ones forced on the ponies had too. Special talents being suppressed and turning their coat colors much more dull and empty. Now that Spike noticed it, Laughingstock’s shade of red was incredibly fitting towards this mark. Inevitably, Laughingstock noticed that Spike had been staring for an awfully long time. “…Everything alright with you?” he asked. Spike snapped out of it and looked up at his new friend with an incredibly nervous smile, a couple of beads of sweat coming from his head. “U-Um, y-yeah I just uh, need a minute.” Spike said, quickly running as fast as his short legs would allow him to run back towards the Castle of Friendship. “TWILIIIIIIIGHT!” Spike was in full panic mode now. Discovering one of Starlight Glimmer’s former victims was not something he’d expected or wanted to see during his relaxation time today.